Knights open with win at Paul Smith's College

Paul Smiths, NY - Freshman John Coleman (Potsdam, NY) came within a pair of missed lay ups from recording a triple-double in his first collegiate game as the Clarkson University Men's Basketball team came away with an 86-69 victory over Paul Smith's College Tuesday evening to open the 2011-12 campaign.

The Golden Knights, now 1-0, will play in the Hilbert College Tournament this weekend just outside of Buffalo. Paul Smith's, well into their season already, dropped to 3-4 overall.

The Knights started the game a little off, but quickly took a double-digit advantage in the first five minutes following a jumper from Nate Uline (Gansevoort, NY). While the Bobcats never caught up and trailed by at least nine for the remainder of the half, they never went away either. If it wasn't for a 3-pointer from Marques Charlton (Deer Park, NY) and a lay up from Felix Llanos (Queens, NY) in the final minute, the Knights would have led by only single digits at the break.

In the second half, the Knights roared out of the gate with seven straight points to take a 21-point edge. Once again, however, Paul Smith's stayed in the game, thanks to numerous second chance points. Paul Smith's took advantage of its 22 offensive rebounds, scoring 29 second-chance points in the game. In the waning moments, Clarkson assured itself of the victory by making free throws down the stretch, despite a late run of outside shooting from Paul Smith's.

John Coleman grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, including 11 offensive boards, to go along with 12 points and eight assists. Llanos scored a game-high 24 points and made four steals, and Charlton nearly had a double-double of his own, scoring 18 points to go along with nine rebounds and five steals. Nate Uline contributed 16 points, shooting 8-for-9 from the floor.

For the Bobcats, Kashean Alston scored 22 points and added 11 rebounds, while Chibunna Belonwu added 16 points and 15 rebounds. Chris Fernandez also tossed in 15 points with seven rebounds.